Hey
everybody! Welcome to episode 2! To the new readers welcome to my mind and my
journey of being a Black storyteller in the United Kingdom.
To start, I
want to say HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wish nothing but peace, love, and goal achieving
for everyone this year. I’ve learned some new English lingo. It’s quite odd to
hear if you’re from America. “You alright” is how the English in Birmingham ask,
“How are you doing?” Now, where I’m from when people ask me if I’m alright,
they seem to think something is wrong with me which is so frustrating, so
imagine my reaction when I hear it. I’m adapting though. First time I heard it
some drunk man said it to me at a bar while offering me a drink. Another phrase
is “CHEERS!” You know when you’re toasting with wine? Well out here it’s often
used as thank you.
I’ve seen
some new places! First, London is always a VIBE when I go. My frat brother
Ronald Sewell always make sure my visit is wonderful. He took me to a Jamaican
restaurant a few weeks ago and I had some Jamaican Rum which was to die for and
some amazing seafood. I was eating shrimp with the heads on them, I swore I’d
never (I still didn’t eat food that looks at me) but you got to explore and try
new things, right? You know what’s so weird to me? It’s legal to drink at 18
here. When I go out to Pubs (Bars) there are so many young people it’s
ridiculous. It makes me appreciate the American legal drinking age.
In London,
I visited Shakespeare’s Globe and got the chance to play on the stage with my
classmates. Probably one of the most humbling experiences is my life. The stage
is so huge and there is nowhere to hide when you’re on it. You literally have
people at every angle watching you. The energy built up in there is otherworldly.
I felt like If I wanted to fire a Kamehameha wave, that’s the place to go. It’s
such a dream hearing about this place so many times from my teachers in America
and actually living in what they described and taught.
I’m still
in love with Drama school. I finished my first term (semester) and I’m
beginning my second one. Macbeth was my classes final project. I’m so grateful for
working with my first professional theatre company this summer (Shout out to
all of my friends from Theater at Monmouth) in Maine. It was my first time
being creative in a non-Black space (I didn’t start acting until undergrad). I
was on a new journey of discovering my voice in a room of people from different
backgrounds, wanting to speak efficiently about how I view things. I’m
continuing that journey here in England. It’s personally a challenge but I
enjoy being an educator for my ancestors. Thank God, I went to an Historically
Black College University previous to this, because without PVAMU I wouldn’t
really even understand myself, nonetheless where I come from. This past summer
in Maine I was in 4 plays, one of them being Macbeth. There was just so much
information and specificity that I didn’t know about Shakespeare’s work and
that story (Which I think might be the hardest play from Shakespeare). I got to
revisit it this past term and I’ve discovered so much about the language,
Shakespeare, the rhetorical devices, the period, (The Gunpowder Plot and how
that connects with everything) the characters’ beliefs, and a more in depth,
immersion into the play, I was also fighting my own actor habits and
eliminating everything that I don’t need. I got to play the king himself, and
live through my favourite soliloquy (which I wrote about a few years back in a
previous blog. You can access it). It was an ensemble piece so we were all
running around in different roles. I’m so grateful for it. And I believe more
that I can execute a lead role. I can finally say that I truly love Shakespeare. (Heart Heart Heart) Thank God for our director/tutor Andrew Potter.
That man is a brilliant educator. And a dynamic artist.
Winter
break in England was quiet. I missed my mom, family and friends but I also got the
chance to celebrate the holidays and my birthday with people who actually care
about me out here. Sometimes I still feel lonely. Like a lonesome young foreign
boy in the woods seeking to know every living organism. Even the ones that
bite; I’m okay though! (PS: I met two new friends last night that also go to my
university. They’re both actors who go to my Drama School on the B.A. course.
Shout out to Hayden Thomas and Janeks Babidorics!)
We’re going
to get this degree in 2019, I’m going to set out and be a star and live out my
life’s purpose of changing the molecules of people that need guidance. Creating
art that promotes unity and empathy, and discovering yourself. We’re going to
change the world and I’m already sparking something by you reading.
Speak it
into existence and anything is achievable friends! Keep striving for your best selves,
accept the journey YOU are on and don’t worry if your journey doesn’t match
someone else’s, it’s yours. stay prayed up and if you see the door of opportunity,
KICK THAT SUMNABITCH DOWN!
And in the
words of the late great playwright August Wilson in his play, The Piano Lesson
“But you’d
be surprised how many people trying to go North get on a train going West. They
think train’s supposed to go where they going rather than where it’s going”
Till next
month family for Issue no.3!
PLEASE SHARE!
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